Carol Van Horn, president judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, recently urged commissioners to take up the issue again. The county has added just one-tenth of additional space recommended by consultants.

The Franklin County Criminal Justice Advisory Board warns that doing nothing will endanger the public. The board’s strategic plan calls for locating county court operations at one place. The advisory board is comprised of criminal justice professionals such as the county court, sheriff, jail, district attorney and probation.

County Commissioner David Keller said that “a work group of representatives from court-related offices and county administration (will) study the issue and, if necessary, recommend further action.”

The group will look at previous studies, dating to 2009. Van Horn also said court operations will supply updated information about caseloads.

“Consultants may be brought in as needed to assist the work group, in which case a contract will be brought to the commissioners publicly for approval,” Keller said.

Buy Photo

Discussions are underway for a new Franklin County Courthouse project.(Photo: Markell DeLoatch, Public Opinion)

Commissioners have been meeting in private to discuss negotiations on real estate matters. They have provided no details.

Commissioners six years ago paid Carter Goble Lee, Columbia, S.C., $100,000 to devise a master plan for the courts. CGL recommended in May 2010 that commissioners build a judicial complex at North Second and Grant streets at the former Jennings car dealership, the former Sheetz property and county administrative annex. The Jennings property remains for sale.

At the time county officials had already started moving that direction. County commissioners in May 2009 bought the former Sheetz, three months before CGL suggested two $40 million alternatives – either building a new judicial center or building an addition to the existing courthouse on Lincoln Way East.

And just two months before CGL made its final recommendation to build at North Second and Grant streets, the Franklin County Criminal Justice Advisory Board recommended that a judicial complex be built on six acres of the former Jennings General Motors.

Unemployment was high in 2010. Citizens petitioned commissioners to end the project. Commissioners abandoned the idea of a judicial complex and instead spent millions acquiring buildings around the 1865 courthouse on Memorial Square.

The county spent $1.9 million to squeeze a fifth county court judge onto the second floor. According to a 2009 analysis by the National Center for State Courts the county will need a sixth judge in 2018 and a seventh in 2028.

“Over the past decades the population of Franklin County has increased dramatically, as have our caseloads, and our facilities are feeling the strain. The current courthouse facilities are inadequate for current caseloads and related operations and are stretched to maximum capacity. If not addressed, the challenges posed by the current space constraints will hamper efficiency and public safety.

“Currently, court related functions are dispersed over four sites in the Chambersburg area. This fragmented operation results in inefficiencies which can be eliminated by the co-location of similar operations. With the increased interplay between human services and the criminal justice system, greater efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved by bringing these respective operations onto the same campus. A courthouse is a complex building which, in addition to office space, includes building security, courtrooms and hearing rooms, juror accommodations, conference rooms, holding cells, sally ports, and separate circulating patterns for the public, victims, judges, staff, inmates, and jurors.

“A new facility design will accommodate all the different building complexities and plan for today’s technology needs as well as for tomorrow’s advancements, saving money and space in the future. Using best practices in facilities design, we not only plan for the next 20 years, but with the next 100 years in mind.”

Jim Hook, 717-262-4759

Buy Photo

Discussions are underway for a new Franklin County Courthouse project.(Photo: Markell DeLoatch, Public Opinion)